Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a 19-year-old man accused in a knife attack at a Murrieta familyâs home that left a young woman dead and her father and boyfriend seriously injured.

William Gary Simpson Jr. has pleaded not guilty to murder and two counts of attempted murder in connection with the Dec. 20 triple stabbing. An allegation that the killing happened during the commission of a burglary makes Simpson eligible, if convicted, for the death penalty.

Saskia Burke, 18, was fatally stabbed in the Dec. 20 early-morning attack. Her father, Paul Burke, and her boyfriend, 17-year-old Connor McCormack, were critically injured in a violent struggle, police said. They have since recovered.

Prosecutors filed a notice of their intention to seek the death penalty on Thursday, court records show.

Riverside County District Attorney Paul Zellerbach made the decision last week, spokesman John Hall said. Hall said the office does not comment on its decision-making process in individual death penalty cases.

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Defense attorney David Macher, of the Riverside County Capital Defenderâs office, declined to comment.

Members of the Burke family could not be reached for comment Friday.

Saskiaâs mother, Catherine Burke, has said that Simpson, a childhood friend of her sonâs, had lived with the family for several months in 2010 after his family kicked him out. But the Burkes hadnât seen him since late 2010, she said. They had asked him to move out because he wasnât paying rent or helping with food bills, court records show. She has said she believes Simpson intended to kill her entire family.

Violent struggle

Authorities have not disclosed a possible motive in the stabbings and a judge has sealed portions of several search warrants that describe the investigation. The court records that are available, however, suggest that Simpson crept into the house in a mask and carrying a duffel bag filled with knives.

According to a Murrieta police detectiveâs statement in support of an arrest warrant, Catherine Burke told police she awoke to a commotion early Dec. 20 and Saskia yelling, âDaddy help meâ and âOh my god, daddy.â Running downstairs, she saw items flying out of the computer room and her husband on top of a table holding someone by the neck, Detective Danny Martin wrote. Connor was standing at the end of the table and Saskia was lying motionless on the floor.

During the struggle, Catherine Burke said she picked up one knife that fell to the floor and pried a second knife out of the attackerâs hand, the document says. She threw the knives outside. Eventually, she got a look at the attacker, whom she recognized as Simpson, Catherine Burke said. As her husband continued to fight with him, the document states, she picked up a candle holder and struck Simpson with it.

Simpson ran away, but authorities tracked him to his motherâs home in the Hesperia area in San Bernardino County, where he was arrested Dec. 23, police said. Prosecutors have said he was arrested with a bag that had a substantial amount of blood in it and knives.

âNinjaâ garb

Police recovered two knives outside the Burkesâ Milkwood Lane home, as well as a sheer mask and a beanie near a pool of blood in the house, according to the detectiveâs statement. Paul Burke later told police Simpson had worn the mask and beanie on Halloween in 2010, Martin wrote.

In an interview the day after the attack, Catherine Burke said Simpson had been dressed âlike a ninja.â

Police obtained several search warrants in the investigation, including one to examine a computer thumb drive found in Simpsonâs duffle bag. On it, they discovered a document from a knife order placed by Simpson as well as a report on a jiu jitsu class in which he had apparently participated, according to a search warrant document filed in court.

Simpson is being held without bail at the Southwest Detention Center in French Valley. He appeared in court Friday for a brief hearing, court records show. A preliminary hearing is set for June 15.

There are more than 700 inmates on the stateâs death row, yet only 13 have been put to death since 1978, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Due to legal challenges over lethal injection protocols, the last California execution was in 2006.

Also contributing to this report: Staff writer John F. Hill, johnhill@pe.com

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